About Material

Materials for ultimate comfort

SIDE SLOPE’s knitwear is made only from materials carefully selected from around the world. Sometimes we go to the production site and start from the design of the yarn. Each of our standard and classic materials are delivered from particular sources chosen with care. For cotton, we use Italian spun yarn using Egyptian Giza Cotton. Cashmere is delivered from an Italian spinning manufacturer established in 1919. And for wool, we use the extremely soft extra fine merino wool spun in Italy. When choosing the materials, the most important elements are the texture, color and spinning method. We create prototypes over and over and carefully confirm the texture by hand many times while imagining the final product. A comfortable piece of knitwear is not something that is decorated excessively. It is created from the desire to bring out the essence of the fine material.

Cashmere

Cashmere is fiber obtained from cashmere goats. Because they live in environments with severe temperature differences, cashmere goats have long, very fine coat hair. Moreover, cashmere is light and warm, with an elegant shine and excellent soft touch. Since only the soft undercoat is used to produce fiber, cashmere is very valuable and it takes about four goats to produce one pullover. At Side Slope, we mainly use cashmere yarns produced by Biagioli, a spinning manufacturer in Italy with long established history. Made from premium quality fibers from Inner Mongolia, their yarns come in a wide variety of great colors dyed with outstanding European sensibility.

Yak

Yak fiber is obtained from yaks, which survive extreme cold temperatures in grasslands and rocky areas in high altitude above 3,000m. Yaks have soft and moist hair with elasticity like a sponge that excel in warmth and water-repellency. Because of its elasticity, it is wrinkle-resistant, and its abrasion-resistant nature makes the fiber highly pill-resistant. That is why yak is said to last longer while being warmer than cashmere. Because yak fiber does not irritate the skin while some sheep wool causes itches, it is recommended for people who are not fans of animal hair fiber knitwear.

Silk

Silk is natural fiber with elegant texture made from the cocoon of a silkworm. The fiber is very fine, with a luxurious shine like a pearl and the touch is light and smooth. It is superior in both heat and moisture retention, and has less tendency to cause static electricity. Silk is hygroscopic therefore wicks excess perspiration away from the skin leaving your skin dry and comfortable. It is warm during winter and keeps you cool during summer because it cuts ultraviolet rays.

Extra Fine Merino Wool

Merino wool is obtained from merino sheep, a breed that is considered to have the finest wool qualities. Among the different grades, merino wool with especially thin diameters are called extra fine merino wool and used to produce superior quality knitwear, suits and dresses. Extra fine merino wool is famous for its soft, supple texture and beautiful luster. Its crimped nature and intertwined fibers allow for high heat retention and elasticity. While the fiber has water repellent qualities to repel rain and dirt, it can also absorb moisture keeping the wearer dry and comfortable from sweat. The material’s heat insulating, quick drying, elastic and odor-resistant qualities makes it perfect to wear throughout the year.

Egyptian Giza Cotton

Egyptian Giza cotton is a type of extra-long staple cotton bearing the name of Giza, a city in Egypt. Because cultivation is difficult, production is small and it is considered as rare product. Since all the raw cotton are hand-picked very carefully, impurities rarely exist. At Side Slope, we use Giza cotton with fiber length of 38 to 40 mm, with clear colors dyed in Italy. The standard of extra-long staple cotton is above 35mm but the longer the fiber, the more premium the quality.

Supima Cotton

Supima cotton threads are made from extra-long staple cotton. Production is small therefore Supima cotton is a premium material. In the world of cotton, the longer the length of fiber, or staple, the more superior the quality. Supima is short for “Superior Pima” meaning that it is the best of Pima cotton, often grown in the United States and is one of the highest quality cotton available. It has fine long fiber in uniform length and excellent durability. Supima cotton is hygroscopic, has beautiful shine like silk and a smooth texture like cashmere.

Extra-long Staple Cottons

The recognized industry standard for the minimum fiber length of extra-long staple cotton is 35mm. Because extra-long staple cotton has long fiber, it is possible to create very fine and elastic threads. The longer staple length also contributes to stronger fiber making the fabric more durable and less likely to fray, fluff and pill when washed. In the world of cotton, the longer the length of fiber, or staple, the more superior the quality. The highest quality cotton has texture and shine almost like silk.

Linen / Ramie

Both linen and ramie are fibers made from hemp, with linen belonging to the Linaceae family and ramie belonging to the Urticaceae family. They have higher water absorbency compared to cotton, another natural material, and since they dissipate heat well, they are considered as ideal material to keep cool in summer. Linen and ramie have natural twists and streaks, and a distinctive unevenness which makes the material unique. Sometimes we incorporate the wrinkle in the design of the garment. The more you wear the garment, the softer the fiber will become to fit naturally on your skin.

Linen-like Cotton

Linen-like cotton is cotton fiber with a linen-like finish to give it firmness and body. It takes advantage of both the dry nature of linen and the less fluffy nature of cotton. It has a sharp, slightly firm texture and feels cool like linen. It is an ideal material to create summer knitwear because it looks cool and feels cool.

Natural Dye

Naturally dyed fiber is dyed with colorants derived from flowers, leaves, fruits and stems, and are characterized by their natural colors. At Side Slope, we use yarns created by Italian spinner Cariagge that are strictly quality-controlled to meet their durability standards against perspiration and washing.

Ozone-treated Shrink-resistant Wool

Ozone treatment is a process to make wool shrink-resistant. The conventional method impaired the scales (cuticles) on the surface of wool fibers however the ozone treatment process modifies only the areas surrounding the tip of the scales to produce shrink-resistant material while maintaining the original quality of wool. Moreover, wool treated with ozone is an environmentally friendly material because chlorine is not used as in the previous methods.

Micron

A micron is the measurement used to express the diameter of fiber. The smaller the diameter, the finer and more flexible. For example, human hair is usually around 70 to 80 microns, sheep hair is 19 to 24 microns (extra fine merino wool is 18.5 to 19.5 microns), and cashmere is 14 to 16 microns. Extra fine merino wool used by Side Slope is premium quality around 16.5 microns, finer and more flexible than most wool products.

Dead Stock yarn

Dead stock yarns are leftover yarns from production and yarns no longer being used in our own factories. As a matter of fact, Side Slope was launched as an attempt to reuse these resources because we do not want to waste them as we feel bad to the sheep and cotton flowers. Sometimes we draw our inspiration from the yarns, small patches of fabrics and the machines in our factory to create new design. It’s an eco-friendly way to reuse leftover yarns and turn it into a precious treasure. Currently, our Green collection is specifically made from these dead stock yarns.

Blended yarn

Blended yarns are made by combining fibers of different materials to achieve well-balanced characteristics of each material such as moisture retention property, hygroscopicity, strength and texture.

Cashmere silk：

A blend of cashmere, excellent in heat retention, and silk, which has beautiful luster and has flexibility. Cashmere silk has moderate thickness compared with silk, has an elegant shine and it is more pill-resistant.

Wool cashmer：

Wool cashmere yarn is a blend of wool and cashmere. While it maintains the thickness of wool, it also has the moist softness of cashmere.

Wool silk：

Wool silk is a blend of wool and silk. It’s a great material taking advantage of the warmth, hygroscopicity and restorability of wool and the flexibility and glossy nature of silk. It has an elegant and modest luster while having a nice fluffy texture.

Cotton silk：

Cotton silk has the water absorbing property of cotton, and the hygroscopic, heat retention properties of silk, blended in a well-balanced manner. It has moderate luster and a dry touch.

Fancy yarn

Fancy yarns are decorative yarns that deliberately introduces irregular characteristics in the form of color, different materials, thickness of fiber, and structure such as intermittent knots and loops.

Chenille yarn：

Also called “mole” yarn in Japan, the chenille yarn is a type of twisted yarn made by placing wool, silk or synthetic yarn around the core yarn so that feather-like edges appear at right angles. At Side Slope, we use chenille yarn made from premium material such as cashmere or silk. The softness of the materials and the feather-like features create unique textures.

Nep Yarn：

Nep is a small knot of entangled fibers (thread clumps) embedded in yarn. Yarn with intentionally created neps are called nep yarn. Knits woven with nep yarn will have a pattern of knots appearing on a surface which will give it a rustic and natural texture. A colorful nep yarn will give unique expression to the knitted fabric.

Cord Yarn

Cord yarns are produced by twisting several ply yarns together. Cord yarns are characterized by the prominent mesh that stands out when made into a knitted fabric. The finished product has a firmer texture compared to those using regularly twisted single/ply yarn.